Garden Bloggers' Blooms Day: Snowdrop Dreams

A smidgen of the snowdrops in the guerrilla garden

We're almost at peak snowdrop here at VP Gardens and I'm pleased to see the ones I've guerrilla gardened on the side bank are beginning to bulk up nicely. I plan to help the smaller clumps in the above photo and beyond by burying their seed heads into the leaf litter in a week or two's time.

Snowdrops have hopped over the garden fence

I love how the ones at the top of the side garden have begun to throw themselves over the boundary and join their cousins on the bank below. There's no helping hand needed from me here, but maybe I will.

The shady border in the back garden with snowdrops, cyclamen and hellebores

Meanwhile in the back garden, the planned combinations are beginning to take shape. I gave the cyclamen a helping hand a couple of seasons ago and they're beginning to take off in their allotted space beneath the winter honeysuckle. It's made me appreciate how much hard work goes into the enormous spreads of cyclamen I've seen underneath the trees at Hodsock Priory, and more recently at Wakehurst.

Part of the snowdrop theatre at Chelsea Physic Garden in 2017

This year I have another snowdrop dream... in the shape of a 'snowdrop theatre' like the one I saw at Chelsea Physic Garden a couple of years ago. I've always been advocate of massed plantings of just Galanthus nivalis or its double, but somehow I've acquired a small collection of more special forms.

Potted up snowdrops in the side garden

These are currently languishing in the side garden storage area and only get looked at properly when I venture there from time to time. I've started to pot them up into individual, labelled pots where they'll still stay there for rest of this year. I'll bring them out next winter; there's a side wall in the back garden which is the perfect display shelf. Why didn't I think of that before?

It turns out I've made this decision in the nick of time as I've lost my 'Fred's Giant' already, and 'Wendy's Gold' looks a bit feeble this year. Fingers crossed she likes her new home and starts to bulk up nicely.

Pot with barbed rose prunings to deter squirrels

You'll see I've taken the precaution of adding some of the recent rose prunings to each pot. The squirrels are much bolder this year and took to digging up my potted bulbs elsewhere in the garden. The simple addition of these prunings seems to stop them... as long as they're close enough together so a paw can't find its way in.

My 'special' snowdrops aren't just the kind which collectors go for. My collection also includes gifts from Easton Walled Garden, Hodsock Priory and Wakehurst of the more usual kind. They're special because of their association with happy times on my visits to these places and therefore also merit inclusion in my display.

Galnthus plicatus 'Augustus' - I love the crinkled look to this snowdrop

Once my specials have bulked up in their pots, then I'll start to split the clumps when the foliage has died down and set them free in the rest of the garden.

Look out for how this new project progresses next year.

Garden Bloggers' Blooms Day is hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens

Comments

  1. Lea15 February 2019 at 12:30

    Beautiful Snowdrops!
    Happy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Flighty15 February 2019 at 13:24

    It's always good to see snowdrops in the ground or in pots. xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP18 February 2019 at 10:46

      I saw plenty of drifts of them on my way to Wales at the weekend. Lovely :)

      Delete
  3. Pauline15 February 2019 at 14:07

    Lovely snowdrops, but all mine like the freedom of the garden. I don't keep any in pots, and they bulk up very well, getting better each year.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP18 February 2019 at 10:49

      Like you I've always been an advocate of lots of snowdrops in the garden - helped especially by my husband buying me 1,000 in the green for my birthday one year. The specials in pots have crept up by stealth and I'm keeping them in pots to bulk up because they'll interbreed with the others and I want to keep seeing the differences. Once they've bulked up some will also be set free to wander at will :)

      Delete
  4. Lisa15 February 2019 at 16:15

    So many gardeners have such luck with snowdrops, but I'm not sure about them. I read they are not only poisonous to pets (I have a dog that digs up bulbs for the bone meal I've added) but you always have to wear gloves when working with them. Pretty, but high maintenance?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP18 February 2019 at 10:52

      I don't wear gloves in the garden unless I'm wrangling roses and I've never come to harm when handling snowdrops. I didn't know about them being poisonous to dogs, so thanks for that information. As for high maintenance... apart from planting them out and my recent round of potting up, they've been left pretty much to their own devices for 20+ years. Might be different for where you live though?

      Delete
  5. Diana Studer15 February 2019 at 21:14

    A snowdrop theatre sounds a wonderful addition to your garden. You have the cast ready and waiting .

    ReplyDelete
  6. Shelly15 February 2019 at 21:34

    An interesting solution with the rose stems! I love all your snowdrops! It's my first year with them and I am in love already!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP18 February 2019 at 10:53

      Hello and welcome to Veg Plotting Shelly! So glad you're enjoying your snowdrops :)

      Delete
  7. Sue Garrett16 February 2019 at 17:19

    Cyclamen hederafolia spreads itself freely in our garden and on the allotment. Some forms are the size of dinner plates and seedling pop,up,in the most inhospitable of places such as ting gaps in paving. We only started out with two plants and we have given loads away.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP18 February 2019 at 10:55

      Mine have been slow to spread Sue - I think it might be the insistent ivy that's the problem... or my clay soil... or both. I'll persist with my helping hand...

      Delete
  8. Anna16 February 2019 at 19:10

    Oh those clumps are gaining in girth most satisfactorily. I do like the idea of a snowdrop theatre. I thought that you weren't going to succumb to special snowdrops VP or was that somebody else? :) Do you have 'Diggory' or 'George Elwes' in your collection yet? If not and they appeal I would be delighted to send you a little snowdrop parcel.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VP18 February 2019 at 10:56

      Yes Anna it was me who wasn't going to succumb, so you must be chuckling that I have. A little snowdrop parcel would be lovely - I don't have either, so you choose :)

      Delete
  9. Anna24 February 2019 at 21:50

    It's hard to resist them :) I'll be in touch soon about a little parcel.

    ReplyDelete

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